Local and
family historians with an interest in the county Westmeath parish of Killucan
and its vicinity will be particularly pleased to know that the earliest
register of baptisms, marriages and burials covering the 90–year period from
1696–1786 has been transcribed with indexes, which are now available online, as
May’s Archive of the Month.

Continuing
its commitment to publish and make more widely available the vast collection of
parish registers available in its custody, the RCB Library in Dublin where the
Killucan registers (along with thousands of others) are held, has collaborated
with Andrew Whiteside, a local historian and archivist, who has painstakingly
worked through the extensive original volume transcribing all of the entries
and additional information, and producing indexes of names. The register
provides a particularly enlightening window to local life in provincial
Ireland, documenting community experience in and around Killucan (with its
neighbouring village of Rathwire, and Kinnegad) especially because it is so
early – dating back to 1696, and continuing for the greater part of the 18th
century until 1786. In addition to the baptismal marriage and burial
entries, it further contains a whole range of administrative records recording
the parish’s role in administering local parish life – similar to that of the
local authority today, including poor relief, education, social welfare, road
maintenance and tree planting, and overseeing law and order – which provide
additional colour about the socio–economic history of the eastern part of
Westmeath.

Although it
is a Church of Ireland record, its remit is much wider
and the contents document the lives of Roman Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter
(including Anabaptists and Quakers) people who lived and worked in this
community. It further contains unique references to some of the poorest people
in the district whose existence is not documented elsewhere. Because one of the
responsibilities of the parish was to maintain lists of ‘indigent, disabled and
marginalised inhabitants’ for the distribution of poor money, the deaths of
several people not recorded in burial registers are included. There are also
mentions of foundlings and people passing through. These glimpses help us to
re–construct society and landscape in the various localities of this parish that
otherwise would be impossible.

From the
RCB Library, Dr Susan Hood who
co–ordinates the Archive of the Month initiative said: ‘We commend the work of
Andrew Whiteside who has faithfully reproduced the contents of this early
parish register that opens a window to social and cultural life in provincial
Ireland during the late 17th and 18th centuries and highlights the value of
parish registers for research.’

Andrew
Whiteside says: ‘I am delighted to make a contribution to understanding the
history of this place, especially as online publication of the earliest
register coincides with the bicentenary celebrations of the “new” parish church
in Killucan (completed in 1813) to meet the needs of the then expanding parish
which came after the volume covered by this work. I hope it is of value to
family and local historians alike.’